Working from home as a parent can be an excellent option for balancing your family obligations with earning an income.
Remote working for parents can provide flexible earning opportunities that you can fit around the hours you have available. While full-time work might not be practical or possible as a parent, there are more opportunities for part-time remote work now than ever before. Taking advantage of these opportunities can provide you with extra income as well as staying productive and proactive in your career.
Whether you need the income or you simply want to do work while raising your kids, remote working offers the flexibility of choice. You can choose from a number of popular remote working industry opportunities at various income levels and time requirements. You could choose to work part-time hours around your own availability or you can even opt to work full-time, if possible. Due to increasingly better technology and digital work opportunities, you can choose whatever fits your abilities and career path.
Choosing to Stay Home as a Parent
Some families have a choice in determining if a parent will stay home while others need to carefully evaluate their financial options to make the best decision. If you choose to stay home as a parent, you need to consider the impact that will have on your career. Taking time off will not prohibit you from going back to work eventually, but a full break can certainly have an impact on your career choices.
A good way to continue staying involved in your industry while taking a break to raise kids is to work part-time from home. If your industry has such opportunities, then you can opt to stay involved with any digitally-based role. This might be a better way to bridge any career gaps so you have the opportunity to go back to work eventually.
Balancing Work and Childcare
Choosing to stay home as a parent can offer you great opportunities to spend more time with your kids. But you do have to keep in mind that working from home with a child around can certainly be distracting. Finding the right balance between caretaking and working might require some flexibility and adjusting, but it is entirely possible.
Having the freedom to work when you can, instead of having fixed office hours, can offer you more opportunities to work remotely. This might mean that you work in smaller chunks of time, such as two-hour blocks at various times of the day.
You might need to work early in the morning before the rest of the family wakes up, or late at night after everyone has gone to bed. Working during the day while a child is at school is a great option, but trying to work during the day with a toddler might prove to be quite a different challenge.
A flexible schedule allows you to work whenever it is possible without needing to meet time obligations for an office. But you do have to remember the importance of your job and ensure that you make the time to get the work done somehow. Having a home office can be particularly helpful so you can separate your work and personal time.
Taking Your Job Remote
Some employers are open to you taking your current office job to a remote work option when you need to spend more time at home with your family. This can be an excellent option, especially if you intend to continue on your career path, regardless of your family obligations.
However, you need to consider the challenges you will face in working from home after working full-time in an office. If your job will continue to be full-time, then you need to determine that possibility in a home setting with a newborn baby. Even after taking time off, going back to work full-time remotely can be a challenge for any new parent.
If you are considering this option, then it would be a helpful adjustment period to start working remotely before the baby arrives so you can begin developing remote work habits and routines to help yourself and your coworkers adjust.
Taking your current job remote is your best chance at continuing on your current career path. Depending on your level of management and experience, you could also consider evolving your current role into a consulting role instead. This could offer greater flexibility in scheduling and availability, allowing you to better balance your professional and family obligations.
Working From Home Jobs
If you cannot take your current job into a remote role, then you should consider other options that might be tangentially connected to your industry or current role. For example, if your current job is in marketing but you have particularly good design skills, then taking on freelance work as a graphic designer could be a great option. Or if your job currently involves writing proposals or press releases, you could consider offering that work as a freelance service.
There are plenty of sales jobs that can be done from home as well, which can be an easy transition from the office environment.
The options for remote work are plentiful, but you might need to be a bit creative in the type of work you want to take. Freelancing or contracting can offer you more control over your schedule and availability. However, that type of work requires you to regularly find new jobs, which can also be time-consuming. If you want to work for a company, just be sure to outline your schedule options so the expectations are clear from the onset.
If you do not intend to stay on the same career path, then working from home as a parent can be a great opportunity to change your track entirely. This could be a chance to take a certification course in something new or to even go back to school on a part-time basis. One popular option for increased flexibility is as a real estate agent or a property manager. With the increasing popularity of websites like Airbnb and other vacation rental companies, property management has become a profitable option with flexible hours.